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Lobster a L’ Americaine

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Lobster a L’ Americaine

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cut off the claws of each lobster and divide them in half lengthwise.

  2. Keep the intestines and remove the grit bag near the head.

  3. Season the lobster halves with salt and pepper.

  4. Heat butter and olive oil in a saucepan over high heat.

  5. Crisp the lobster flesh quickly until the shell turns bright red.

  6. Pour brandy and white wine over the lobster and simmer for a few seconds.

  7. Add Sauce Americaine and cover the saucepan, cooking for 15 to 20 minutes.

  8. Arrange the lobster on a deep dish.

  9. Finish the sauce by adding crushed intestines, fresh butter, lemon juice, and parsley.

  10. Pour the sauce over the lobster and serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, butter, olive, brandy, white wine, lemon, pepper):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Rosemaryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, butter, olive, brandy, white wine, lemon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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